Who are we to believe
on road improvements?
It’s pretty bad when a citizen needs to have the state road office on speed dial to report and ask for information about the terrible condition of our roads in Monongalia County.
I have been calling at least three times a week to report potholes that have now become canyons on W.Va. 73 south and Halleck Road on the W.Va. 73 end. We take our lives in our own hands dodging trucks, which not only caused a lot of the damage but take up 2/3 of the road, to miss these potholes.
We also desperately need ditch work done on Halleck Road. There is always water on the road because of the lack of ditches and in the winter we have a skating rink of ice for a road. This has also accelerated the roads’ deterioration.
I was told in September that a contract had been let to repair W.Va. 73 from Goshen Road to the Marion County line and that it was up to them now to do the work. As anyone can see, the work never started. I called this week to see if there was a start date and was told the proposal to do the work had just been submitted to Charleston this year for approval and they were waiting for that. Which story is true?
I have traveled all over the state and the roads in our county are the worst. The secondary roads in most are better than our primary roads. I have also been in many Third World countries and they have better road systems. Could that be because they put their people to work instead of giving them handouts to sit at home?
After losing a tire and a hubcap, having to have body work done on my car due to hitting potholes and needing it again, I bought an off-road vehicle. Now I might be able to make it home if the roads get any worse.
Susan Hall Witt
Morgantown
West Virginia being sold
still another bad idea
It was almost with amusement that I read the article DP-Friday)about the new mine opening in Wyoming County.
While the rest of the country is upping its renewable energy sources — wind, solar and hydro-power — as the demand for coal declines, not West Virginia. Old dirty coal still reigns king.
This state has been raped and pillaged for decades while the perpetrators and their wealth walk away. It’s not their neighborhoods who are impacted, but have we learned anything? I say no. Once again, with the promise of a few jobs, the state will sacrifice our health, our environment and our children’s future.
Flip forward to another page in the same day’s newspaper and the headline reads, “Coal to keep sliding.” This article is all about a dying energy source that we can no longer afford to throw money at. We are all at risk on this planet, it’s the only one we have.
West Virginia is one of the few states that can produce water and we should be promoting and protecting our water sources, but no. With this administration the EPA has relaxed the rules and guidelines that protect our health so that a few can gain even more millions.
We have found alternative energy sources but we cannot live without clean water.
We have worked hard to clean up our streams and rivers but between President Trump and Gov. Jim Justice, they want to set us back decades. Justice is a coal guy and Trump is a con man who will do and say anything to stay in power.
There is no such thing as clean coal. Our miners and legislators go begging year after year for the pensions and health care our miners have earned and deserve. But the things you can depend on are:
Coal is devastating to our environment and our health and we are going down the wrong path again. Wake up West Virginia, you are being sold another bad idea.
Cindy Jones
Morgantown
